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Sunday, 9 May 2010

Its Mothers Day today, the day that we celebrate that we were brought into this world by marvellous creatures, and equally had our lives shaped by a collection of striking influences who form the collective “mother”. Fundamentally we set aside the day to truly embrace the powerful state of gratitude.After a big week this week I was delighted to end it on a pleasant note and one that caused me to reflect on one of my favourite values – gratitude.

Image from http://www.theonenesslovefoundation.org

It started with a training session for one of the graduates in our company. A young woman, fairly recently out of university and embarking on her career. We experience a few hiccups during the session but with good humour & grace we managed to plod along and I got to know her a little better. She will soon be joining our area on her next rotation so it was nice to get a little “advance screening” of the new team member.

A couple of hours later I received a Rewards Value recognition (a scheme recognising employees for living the company values as nominated by their peers) for Team Work. It was an official way of saying “thank you” (registering with HR and your manager) so it was truly kind deed on her part.I acknowledged the gesture and sent her a ‘thank you’ email letting her know how much I appreciated it. Within minutes and like a true kindred spirit she wrote back:

“You can’t say thank you for me saying thank you! Hehe.. you’re more than welcome, I really do appreciate the time you had put aside to help me (and also others). You’re just wonderful, have a great weekend J

This gorgeous wee girl (that’s a little joke cos’ she’s about 6 foot!) had no idea how much joy she filled me with! Barely out of grad school, she left me in little of doubt of how far she would go in this world because she embodies “an attitude of gratitude”.

Saying ‘thank you’ is a personally fulfilling exercise for me and I would even go so far to say that it does more for me than perhaps even the recipient! To be on the receiving end of a ‘thank you’ is also a wonderful place to be.A few hours later I was reminded again that being recognised is just as rewarding no matter what station we have in life, how great our successes, or how esteemed our careers. Catherine White (aka @DivineMissWhite) posted a message on Twitter http://bit.ly/91J9qd expressing her gratitude for posting an excerpt from her blog post which had struck a chord with me. In fact this is one of the great things about Twitter as a medium and the fact that it attracts more than its share of very self aware people. Gratitude is expressed openly in this forum and it’s a blessing that it is.So while the sun goes down on this weekend and you’re preparing for the week ahead I hope you decide to wear an “attitude of gratitude”. I doubt you will be disappointed with the results.